Electric sign



F. HO-TCHNER ET AL 1,791,241

ELECTRIC SIGN Filed Feb. 16, 1928 IINVENTORS a I must be made in considerable lengths.

Patented Feb. 3, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRED HOTCHNER, or LOS A'NqELEs, AND ROBERT LESTER SLATER, or SAWTELLE,

CALHORNIA, ASSIGNORS, .BY DIRECT ENE MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, To JOHN GOOD- RICH KIRKPATRICK, or MONTEREY IPARK, CALIFORNIA ELECTRIC SIGN Application filed February 16, 1928. Serial No. 254,668.

This invention relates to an electric sign and has for its object to produce a sign with tubular discharge tube lights which will be free from the structural, electrical and opti cal defects common to practically all dis-' charge tube signs made heretofore.

In the adaptation of discharge tubes to electric signs many serious difliculties have been met which haveresulted in very expensive construction and many limitations in the use of such signs.

In order to be practical discharge turblss e characters into which the tubes are formed must therefore be made up in groups of several characters to a tube, covering considerable area. on the face of the sign. There are many bends and curves in the tubes and a high proportion of return bends which represents waste. Also it is necessary to paint opaque all portions of the tubes that are merely connecting portions between the characters. The

- tubes are enormously expensive to make. the

efliciency is very low and the liability of breakage so great that the cost of building the sign with the necessary stiflness is often doubends, no opaque portions and in which it is not necessary to provide any extra stiffness to protect the tube from breakage.

a In doing this we have accomplished other important results. We have made a sign in vslhich a single tube illuminates both sides of t e si a bor er also serves to illuminate the letters on both sides. That a single tube can thus be made to perform the duty of four tubes seems incredible at first but is easily under ,.stood when one realizes the enormous loss in radiation in the signs as they have been made.

Inv addition to the losses due to return bends and opaque portions, there is an additional loss duefto the fact that all of the light that and while being made in the form of doesnot go forward from the. sign is lost. On account of the high potential 0 the tubes they-must be spaced a distance from the body of the sign. This, and the fact that the tubes jump from letter to letter and to the electrodeholes, has prevented the general use of channels. The light is thus scattered, and to maintain the contrast of the letters it is neceslight that falls upon the letter back of the tube is of little value due to the brilliance of unreadable at a distance from which it is distinctly visible.

. sary to paint the background a dark color to kill all the light that falls upon it. Even the We have overcome all of these difficulties in ,duced the glare of the tube and increased the readability of the letters, without reducing the range of visibility. .The optical system of our sign .produces the result of an even distribution of light over a background of considerable width with'the exception of the areas adjacent to the letters where the intensity is greatly increased thus giving a'very distinct efiect of the letters being raised and standing away from the background. Instead of placing the source of. light away from the plane 0. the. background as has been the practice in background lighting heretofore we have placed it essentially in the plane of the back-,

ground, the background of the two sides coming to a sharp edge and the light being split to the two sides of thesign. That we have succeeded in properly illuminating the background with the light in this posltion is due to the use of the edge reflectors and the use .of the back surface of the letters 'for reflectors. I

I The open space construction-bf our si is necessary for the optical system. It 15 an object of our invention to take advantage of this open construction to reduce the wind pressure and lighten the construction, and also to secure the greatest possible clearance of the tube from the metal of the body. While retaining all of the advantages of the open construction it is our further object to secure from all angles of view both day and night the effect of the letters in front of a background and at night the effect of a-.continuous surface over the entire sign.

The mechanical system of the sign, so far as the tube supporting feature is concerned, is of the semi-rigid type; that is, instead of resisting shocks and strains, it gives before them and minimizes the effect. The background is mounted so that the wind pressure is balanced and the tendency to turn eliminated. This permits us to use a single mounting iron for the background. The tube is mounted so as to give with the back ground and it is one of our objects to. provide a semi-rigid sign construction in which the tube is so mounted that the sign can give under strains without putting any strain upon the tube. It is a further object to provide a construction in which the tube does not stand away from the background subject to breakage but is protected from all sides and may' be shipped with the sign and "erected without danger.

It is a further object to provide a discharge tube sign that can be manufactured to a standard type and may have the reading inatter changed without changing the tubes.

It is another object to make a sign in which a tube having few bends is used and in which the tube can be quickly replaced.

Other desirable objects are secured in our invention as will be apparent from the following specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an illustration of an embodiment of this invention showing one side of a double faced, vertical sign.

Figure 2 is perspective of a portion of the sign shown in Fig. 1 to illustrate the relation of the parts. J

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view of the sign shown in Fig. 1 on the line 33.

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view of the sign shown in Fig.1 on the ljine 4=4.

Figure 5 is a horizontal cross sectional view of a modified form of this invention.

I Figure 6 is a horizontal cross sectional view -of a single faced vertical sign made according to this invention.

In the drawings the same numeral applies to the same part thruout. Numeral 1, Fig. 1,

indicates a double faced vertical sign made according to this invention. 2' and 3 are side reflectors and 4 and 5 are top and bottom reflectors. The four reflectors are faced inwardly and make up the fraine of the sign,

They may be of any desired shape, but in this case they are shown as channels. For the purpose of more eficiently directing the light they maybe made in the form of a curve as shown in Fig. 5.

6 and 7 are background surfaces of sheet iron. They are convexed and fastened together at the edges 8 and 9. The channel.

iron 10 passes between them and is secured to them by any suitable means. The channel iron 10 is held to the upper hanger iron 11 by means of the knee 12 and to the lower rigid and holds straight and paralleledges for the support of the tube. The tube 15 is secured to the center section by the insulators 15', 15', etc. The electrodes are close to the center line of the sign. 17 and 18 are the electrodes, 19 and 20 being the offset portions of the tube 15 which hold the electrodes in the proper position tov enter the insulating bushings 21 and 22 parallel to each otlfer.

By this arrangement the tube is supported with better clearances from the metal of the sign than by any other construction known. llt is possible for the center of the sign to give sligh ly under wind strains or if struck without the-slightest danger to the tube. It is also possible to pack and ship the sign with I the tube in place as it is entirely protected by the reflectors. The reflectors also serve as protection to the tube when the sign is in place on the building. This protection is important'as tubes are often broken by window washers and by objects thrown from windows. The tendency of the center to move under wind strain is very small as. the surface exposed is the same-0n each side of the center and hence'the channel iron need not be heavy.

For signs that are too long for a single tube this construction is modified by adding .another set of electrode connections at the bottom. llt is also possible for very long signs to break the tubes along the edges and make connections at those points.

The tube 15 lies in'the lane of the edges 8 and 9 of the backgroun s, with the exception of the portions at the to and bottom. The offset 16 is provided in the tube at the bottom to clear the iron 10. The letters, 23, 24: 25 and 26 on the near face and 27, 28, 29 and 30 on the distant face are supported from the backgrounds by the pins' 31, 31, 31, etc. They are held at a distance from the backgrounds sufiicient to effectively serve as reflectors to throw the light back onto the back-- grounds, and to be out of the way of the rays cast towards e backgrounds from the side iui reflectors. T e most satisfactory position for the letters isin the planes of the faces of the sign as defined by the edges 32, 33, 34 and' lighted background.

It is found that the effect of the arrangement shown is to cast a halo of light on the background .behind the letters causing the letters in which it is necessary to reduce the stroke to secure readability at a distance.

In order to secure the result of the letters always appearing in front of a light surface,

the background and reflectors are proportioned as shown in Fig. 3. The line AA indicates the angle of View to the right of which the letters appear in front of the backseen thru the space.

ground 6, and to the left of which they apefore the inside surfaces of the reflector 3. In the night when the tube is lighted 'the space 36 between the background and the reflectors in effect disappears to view and the sign appears continuous from edge to edge. This is duelto the fact that the brilliance of the tube in the space is greater than that of any distant light that might ordinarily be The glare of the tube is greatly reduced, in efl'ect, as compared with luminous tubes as ordinarily used on signs, there being no reflecting background behind the tube. The visibility of the sign is the same as regards distance as tho the letters were lighted with tubes.- It becomes readable at a distance from which the othertype of sign is still a glare of light.

The cost' of maintaining this sign isvery small as a tube can be replaced from stock tubes with no delay. The sign can be repainted with the greatest .ease.

Fig. illustrates a modified form'of r eflector designed to more efliciently distribute the light.

Figure 6 illustrates the adaptation of this invention to a single faced sign. 37 indicates the background; 38, the tube; 39 and 40, the

side reflectors; the letters, and 51 and 52 the pins for supporting the letters.

some similarity might seem to exist between While this construction and the old style of shadow box signs heretofore made with incandescent lamps a great difference actually exists both in principle-and in results. In the old practice the lights were placed forward and concealed and the letters were placed close to the surface. The result was that the background was lighted strongest near the edges and that light falling on the letters reduced the contrast with the background.

The invention is not limited to the herein particularly described forms but may be modified in various ways-within the purview of the following claims.

Having thus, described our invention, what we claim as new and novel and deslre to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an electric sign, a backgroundsurface, a light positioned in the plane of said surface and visible. from the front of said sign, a reflector positioned on the opposite side of said light with respect to said background surface comprising the border of said sign to reflect radiation from said light to said surface, and opaque characters positioned in front of said background surface.

2. In an electric sign, a background surface, 'a tubular light positioned parallel to and in the plane of said surface, and a reflector on the opposite side of said light with respect to said surface, said light being ex posed to View and constituting part of the design of said sign, and opaque characters positioned in front of said background pear partly before the background and partly surface.

3. In an electric sign, a frame including a reflector, a background structurepositioned within said frame and visible from both sides of said sign, and a light between said background structure and said reflector, said light being exposed to view and constituting part of the design of said sign, and opaque char- I acters positioned in front of each of the visible surfaces of said background structure.

4. In an electric sign, a frame including reflectors, a'background structure positioned within said frame and spaced therefrom and visible from both sides of said frame, said background structure comprising curved plates joined at the edges thereof and having at least one supporting member extending thru the space therebetween andc'onnecting the said background structure to said frame,

said reflectors being positioned to'the side of said background structure, characters positioned in ront of said background structure on either side thereof, and light radiating means between said background structure and said reflectors.

5. In an electric sign, a frame including a reflector, a background structure positioned withln said frame and spaced therefrom and. vislble from both sides of said frame, said re-' flector being positioned to, the side of said background structure, characters positioned in front of said background structure on. either side thereof and a tubular light positioned essentially in the plane of said background structure and between said structure and said reflector.

6, In an electric sign, a frame including reflectors, said reflectors being direct'edinwardly, a background structure including curved plates joined at the edges thereof providmg background surfaces positioned within said frame and spaced therefrom leaving a clear space to view between said reflectors and said background surfaces, said background surfaces being visible from both sides of said frame, a light positioned within said frame in said clear space between said background surfaces and said reflectors, said light being visible from both sides of said frame,

and characters positioned in front of said 8. In an electric sign, a convex background surface and a tubular light adjacent the edge of said surface, and opaque characters positioned in front of said background surface and spaced therefrom, the relative positions of the several said elements being so related that the portions of said background surface behind the said characters are increased in degree of illumination by virtue of light reflected thereupon from the back of said characters.

9. In an electric sign, a convex surface, a tubular light adjacent the edge of said surface and a character positioned in front of said surface, said light being exposed to View.

10. In an electric sign, a convex surface, a tubular light around said surface and means to reflect light to the portion of said surface most distant from said light, said light being exposed to view.

11. In an electric sign a pair of convexed surfaces joined together with edges meeting and a discharge tube supported from said edges, said light being exposed to view, and characters on said surfaces.

12. In an electric sign, a light colored background, a discharge tube to illuminate said background and opaque characters positioned in front of said background the face of said characters being out of the range of radiation from said discharge tube, said light being exposed to view as a border for said background. 7

13. In a double faced electric sign, a background structure, characters positioned in front of said background structure, a reflector disposed on the side of said background struc:

ture and spaced therefrom, there being a clear space therebetween, a source of light radiation positioned between said background structure and said reflector and visible from both sides of said sign, the dimensions and positions of said background structure", said characters and said reflector being such that from any ordinary point of view saidmharacters appear in front of either said merger background structure, said reflector or both said background structure and said reflector.

14. In an electric sign, a reflector structure comprising the frame of said sign, a discharge tube border within said frame and visible from both sides of said sign and a background structure within said border, there being a clear space between said reflector and said background and opaque characters positioned in front of said background structure and so related thereto as to increase the illumination of said background structure byreflection from the back of said characters, the faces of said characters being out of the range of radiation from'said discharge tube.

15. In an electric sign, a double faced sign comprising a reflector structure, a background structure therein-and means to illuminate both sides of said sign from a single source of light, said source of light being visible from the front of both faces of said sign, and opaque characters positioned on either side of said sign in front of said background surface and out of the range of the radiation from said source of light.

16. In an electric sign, a background surface, a light positioned substantially in the plane of said surface comprising the border of said sign and visible from the front of said sign, a reflector positioned on the opposite side of said light with respect to said background surface to reflect radiation from said light to said surface, and opaque characters positioned in front of said background surface and spaced therefrom, the backs of said characters being light reflecting, and the distance of said characters from said background surface being such that radiation from said light is reflected onto the said background behind said characters thereby rendering the same clearly discernible in silhouette.

17. In an electric sign, a background surface, a tubular light positioned parallel to and in the plane of said surface, a reflector positioned on the opposite side of said light with respect to said surface, said light being exposed to view and constituting part of the design of said sign, and opaque characters positioned in front of said background surface, the backs of said characters being light reflecting, said characters being spaced from said background surface, the several said elements being so positioned with respect to each other that a portion of the radiation from said light is directed onto said background surface by said reflector and a portion of the radiation is directed onto said background surface by the reflecting surfaces of the backs of said characters, the background surface being thereby illuminated to a practical degree to such intensity as to render said characters discernible in silhouette.

18. In an electric feign, a frame includmg a reflector, a background structure positioned 1 within said frame, there being a clear space between said reflector and said background structure, said background structure being visible from both sides of said sign, a light between said reflector and said background structure in said space, said light being exposed to view from both sides of said sign and constituting part of the design of both .sides of said sign, and opaque characters positioned in front of each of the visible surfaces of said background structure and spaced therefrom, the backs of said characters being light reflecting, the relative positions of the several said elements being such that part of the radiation from said light is directed onto each of the said surfaces of the background structure by said reflector and part of the radiation from said light is directed onto said surfaces by the reflecting surfaces of the backs of said characters.

. 19. In an electric sign, a frame including reflectors, a background structure positioned within said frame spaced therefrom and visible from both sides of said sign, said background structure. comprising curved J plates meeting at the edges thereof and having at least one supporting 'member extending thru the space therebetween and connecting the said background structure 'to said frame, said reflectors being directed inwardly towards said background structure and so related thereto that radiation reflected from the same will reach both sides of said back- 4 ground structure, a tubular light, positioned having light reflecting surfaces, the relative' positioning of all of said elements being such that a portion of the radiation from said light is directed onto the two sides of said background structure by saidreflectors and a portion of the radiation from said light is directed onto the two sides of said background structure from the backs of the characters respectively positioned in front of thesame.

20. 'In an electric sign, a frame including a reflector, a background structure positioned within said frame and spaced therefrom and visible from both sides of said frame, said reflector'being positioned to the side of said background structure and directed thereto-,

wards, there being a clear space therebetween,

. characters positioned in front of said background structure on either side thereof and spaced therefrom, the backs of said characters having light reflecting surfaces, and a tubular light positioned close to the plane of said background structure and between said structure and said reflector in said clear space and visible from both sides of said sign as a border.

21. In an electric sign, a frame including reflectors, said reflectorsbeing directed inwardly, a background structure includin curved plates with the concaved sides thereo turned towards each other and the edges meeting, said structure being positioned within said frame and spaced therefrom leaving a clear space to view between said reflectors and said background structure, one of each of the exposed surfaces of said background structure being visible from each side of said frame, a light positioned within said frame in said clear space between said background structure and said reflectors, said light being visible from both sides of said frame, and characters positioned in front of said exposed background surfaces to intercept radiation from said light and reflect said radiation onto said background surfaces.

22. In an electric sign, a convex background surface, a character positioned in front of said background surface and spaced therefrom, and means to illuminate said background surface by reflection from the back of said character, said illuminating means being exposed direct to view. and positioned adjacent the edge of said background surface.

23. In an electric sign, a convex background surface, a character positioned in front of said background surface and spaced therefrom, the back of said character having a light reflecting surface, and illuminating means disposed to the side of said character exposed to view as part of the intended visible character whereby the contrast of said character with said background is increased.

- 24. In an electric sign, a convex background surface, a tubular light adjacent the edge of said surface, and opaque characters positioned in front of said background surface and spaced therefrom, the backs of said characters having light reflecting surfaces,

the relative positioning of the several said elements being such that the intensity of the illumination of the portions of said background surface behind the said characters is increased by virtue of radiation reflected upon them from the backs of said characters.

25. In an electric sign, a background memher having a convex light reflecting surface,

a tubular lightadjacent the edge of said surface, and an opaque character member -p'ositioned in front of said surface and spaced therefrom, the back of said character member having a-lighttrefiecting surface, the relground structure, characters positioned in ative ositioning or all-of said elements being such t at light reflected from the back of said character member upon said convex surface" cernible in silhouette thereupon, the light reflected by the back of said character member serving to compensate for the uneven distribution of light upon said convex surface by direct radiation from said source.

26. In an electric sign, a convex surface member, a tubular light around the surface of said member and means to reflect radiation to the portion of said surface most distant from said light, said light being exposed to View.

27. In an electric sign, a pair of convexed surface members joined together with edges meeting and a discharge tube supported from said edges, said light being exposed to view, and characters .on the exposed surfaces of said members.

28. In an electric sign, a light colored background, a discharge tube to illuminate said background and opaque characters positioned infront of said background, the faces of said characters being out of the range of radiation from said discharge tube, said dis-' charge tube being exposed to view as a border for said backgroun 29. In a double faced electric sign, a backfront of said background structure, a reflectondisposed on the side of said background structure and spaced therefrom, there being a clear space therebetween, a source of light radiation positioned between said background structure and said reflector and visible from both sides of said sign, the dimensions and relative positions of said background structure, said characters and said reflector being such that from any ordinary point of view said characters appear in front of either said background structure, said reflector -or both said background structure and said reflector.

30. In a double faced-electric sign, a reflector structure comprising the frame of said sign, the reflectors being directed inwardly, a light reflecting background structure within said frame exposed to view on both sides of said sign, there being a clear space between said background structure and sa1d reflectors in which clear space is positioned a discharge tube, said discharge tube belng exposed to view on both sides of d the sign as a border for said sign and so located with relation to the other said elements that a portion of the radiation therefrom is cast upon both-sides of said background structure, and opaque character plates posi-- tioned in front of each side of said background structure and spaced therefrom, the

' backs of said character plates having light reflecting surfaces, said plates being so po sitioned with relation to the other said elements that radiation redirected by the said reflecting surfaces onto the surfaces of said background structure reenforces the aforesaid portion of the radiation from said discharge tube and compensates to a measurable degree for the unevenness thereof, the faces of said character plates beingout of the range of direct radiation from said discharge tube.

31.. In an electric sign, a double faced sign comprising a reflector structure, a background structure therein and means to illuminate both sides of said sign from a single source of light, said source of light being visible from 'the'front of both faces of sai sign, and opaque characters positioned on either side of said sign in front of said background surface and out of the range of the radiation from the said source of light.

32. In an electric sign, a light colored background surface, characters positioned in zfr'ont of said background surface and spaced therefrom, the backs of said characters having light reflecting surfaces, and a source of radiation in the form of a border for said sign visible from the front of said'si and so positioned as to illuminate the sai background surface partly by light radiated directly thereupon and partly by light reflectsurface and spaced therefrom, the back of said member havin a reflecting surface, the relative positions o the several said elements being such that radiation from said light redirected onto said background from the back of said silhouette display member reenforces those portions of the radiation cast upon said background directly by said light and reflected upon said background by said reflector, the illumination thus produced upon said background being of increased intensity around the'edges of said silhouette member by virtue of that radiation reflected upon said ackground by said member.

34. In an electric sign, a reflecting background structure, a tubular light disposed ortion of the to the edge of said background and exposed to view as a border for said sign, anopaque silhouette member positioned in front of said background surface and spaced therefrom, the back of said member having a reflectin surface, the relative positions of the severa said elements being such that radiation from saidlight redirected onto said background from the back of said silhouette member reof that portion thereby.

of-the radiation redirected FRED HOTCHNER. R. L. SLATER. 

